Survey of English Housing Preliminary Report: 2007-08

This Report presents the preliminary findings from the final year of the Survey of English Housing (SEH), a household survey conducted continuously for Communities and Local Government (and its predecessor Departments) from 1993-94 to 2007-08. In April 2008 this survey was merged with the English House Condition Survey to form the new English Housing Survey. Further details can be found on the Department’s website or by contacting the SEH team – contact details are given at the end of this report.

The 2007-08 Survey of English Housing was carried out for Communities and Local Government by the National Centre for Social Research and it provides important housing data on owner occupation and on the social and private rented sectors. This preliminary report presents some of the key findings from the 2007-08 survey.

In addition to the Survey of English Housing results for 2007-08, a number of tables based on data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for 2008 are also included due to the larger sample size of the LFS. There is however a slight time difference: LFS 2008 results relate to the average position in May 2008; SEH 2007-08 results relate to the average position at end-September 2007. Key Findings

- **Housing tenure:** In 2008 there were an estimated 14.6 million owner occupiers in England (68.3 per cent of the total – down from 69.6 per cent in 2007), 3.8 million social renters (17.7 per cent – unchanged) and 3.0 million private renters (13.9 per cent – up from 12.7 per cent in 2007).

- **Younger households and private renting:** In 2008 the proportion of younger households (with Household Reference Person (HRP) aged under 30) buying with a mortgage was 32 per cent and the proportion who were private renters was 45 per cent. This compares to 40 per cent buying with a mortgage and 33 per cent renting privately in 2001.

- **Owner occupation by household type:** 76 per cent of couples with dependent children were owner occupiers. By contrast only 35 per cent of lone parents with children were owner occupiers while 44 per cent of them were social renters. One person households were the most common household type in the social rented sector (43 per cent).

- **Household size:** The average household size in 2008 remained unchanged from 2007 at 2.4 persons per household. There was little difference between the tenures.

- **Housing tenure by ethnicity:** In 2008, nine per cent of all households in England were ethnic minority households. Only seven per cent of Indian households were social renters but 49 per cent of Bangladeshi households lived in social housing. Seventy per cent of white households were owner occupiers compared to 50 per cent of ethnic minority households.

- **Mortgage type:** Around three quarters of all mortgages held in 2007-08 and taken out since 2001 were repayment mortgages; only six per cent were endowment mortgages.

- **Mortgage difficulties:** Thirteen per cent of households buying with a mortgage reported either some difficulty in paying the mortgage or that they were in arrears. Over 30 per cent of unemployed households, those with at least one sick or disabled member, and those who had previously been repossessed had some difficulties or arrears.

- **Overcrowding:** There were around 565,000 overcrowded households in England – about 2.7 per cent of all households. By region, London not only had the highest overall rate of overcrowding (6.8 per cent) – but also the highest regional rates for individual tenures: 3.0 per cent of owner occupiers; 12.7 per cent of social renters and 9.8 per cent of private renters.

- **Household moves:** Over two million households had been resident at their current address for less than one year. Forty per cent of private renters had moved during the previous year compared to just three per cent of outright owners. Movement within sectors was more common than movement between sectors. Forty-seven per cent of all newly-formed households had moved into the private rented sector, 34 per cent into owner occupation and 20 per cent into the social rented sector.

- **Buying aspirations:** In 2007-08, 24 per cent of social renters and 56 per cent of private renters said that they expected to become homeowners eventually. Of these, 28 per cent of the private renters said they expected to buy within the next two years, compared to 12 per cent of the social renters.

- **Satisfaction with home and local area:** Over 90 per cent of households reported being very or fairly satisfied with their current accommodation. Traffic in the local area was a problem for 52 per cent of households; litter/rubbish affected 43 per cent of households; and 39 per cent of households reported vandalism/hooliganism as a problem.

1. Trends in tenure

Chart 1 and table 1 show the changing pattern of tenure in England. Over the last two decades there has been a modest growth in the population and this, coupled with the tendency for the average household size to decline, has resulted in a considerable increase in the total number of households in England. The number rose by over one million in the 1990s from 19.3 million in 1991 to 20.4 million in 2001. Growth has since continued to a total of 21.4 million households in 2008.

The proportion of owner occupied households remained steady at around 70 per cent throughout the last decade but the 2008 estimates suggest that this has now declined to 68.3 per cent.

The number of households in the social sector reached a peak of around 5.5 million in 1979 but there was a substantial decline in the 1980s as a result of ‘Right to Buy’ purchases by sitting tenants. Numbers continued to decline at a slower rate until 2005, since when there have been modest increases, although the proportion of households in England who are social tenants has remained steady at 17.7 per cent. We are continuing to present combined figures for all social renters, rather than separate figures for council tenants and housing association tenants. This is because some housing association tenants wrongly report that they are council tenants, commonly in areas where ownership has recently transferred to housing associations. As a result the presentation of separate figures might be misleading.

The number of households renting privately has increased substantially over the last decade from two million in 1998 to three million in 2008. This recent surge may be due to a combination of factors: the flexibility offered by private renting; affordability issues; increased supply due to the availability of ‘buy-to-let’ mortgages in recent years; and, during the past year, owners choosing to let out properties instead of trying to sell them in a difficult housing market. Table 1: Trends in tenure: 1918 to 2008, England

| Year | Owner occupiers | Social renters | Private renters | All | Total | |------|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|-----|-------| | | Own outright | Buying with a mortgage | All | Unfurnished | Furnished | All | Total | | 1918 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6,460 | 11,050 | | 1939 | 3,500 | 1,090 | 6,460 | 11,050 | | 1953 | 4,110 | 2,240 | 6,490 | 12,840 | | 1961 | 5,990 | 3,240 | 4,690 | 13,920 | | 1971 | 8,060 | 4,640 | 3,240 | 15,940 | | 1981 | 4,313 | 5,546 | 13,069 | 19,164 | | 1984 | 4,590 | 6,399 | 10,990 | 17,945 | | 1988 | 4,834 | 7,414 | 12,248 | 18,656 | | 1991 | 4,795 | 8,255 | 13,050 | 19,309 | | 1992 | 4,815 | 8,255 | 13,069 | 19,164 | | 1993 | 4,898 | 8,382 | 13,280 | 19,430 | | 1994 | 5,008 | 8,421 | 13,429 | 19,555 | | 1995 | 4,998 | 8,468 | 13,467 | 19,652 | | 1996 | 5,115 | 8,407 | 13,521 | 19,734 | | 1997 | 5,249 | 8,380 | 13,629 | 19,877 | | 1998 | 5,404 | 8,413 | 13,817 | 20,028 | | 1999 | 5,582 | 8,508 | 14,091 | 20,163 | | 2000 | 5,764 | 8,575 | 14,339 | 20,320 | | 2001 | 5,885 | 8,473 | 14,358 | 20,403 | | 2002 | 6,019 | 8,540 | 14,559 | 20,662 | | 2003 | 6,158 | 8,542 | 14,701 | 20,739 | | 2004 | 6,288 | 8,389 | 14,677 | 20,758 | | 2005 | 6,352 | 8,440 | 14,791 | 20,932 | | 2006 | 6,425 | 8,365 | 14,790 | 21,092 | | 2007 | 6,505 | 8,228 | 14,733 | 21,178 | | 2008 | 6,653 | 7,975 | 14,628 | 21,407 |

| Year | Percentages | All | Total | |------|-------------|-----|-------| | 1918 | 23.0 | 1.0 | 76.0 | | 1939 | 32.0 | 10.0| 58.0 | | 1953 | 32.0 | 18.0| 50.0 | | 1961 | 43.0 | 23.0| 34.0 | | 1971 | 51.0 | 29.0| 20.0 | | 1981 | 25.0 | 32.2| 57.2 | | 1984 | 25.6 | 35.7| 61.2 | | 1988 | 25.9 | 39.7| 65.7 | | 1991 | 24.8 | 42.8| 67.6 | | 1992 | 25.1 | 43.1| 68.2 | | 1993 | 25.2 | 43.1| 68.3 | | 1994 | 25.6 | 43.1| 68.7 | | 1995 | 25.4 | 43.1| 68.5 | | 1996 | 25.9 | 42.6| 68.5 | | 1997 | 26.4 | 42.2| 68.6 | | 1998 | 27.0 | 42.0| 69.0 | | 1999 | 27.7 | 42.2| 69.9 | | 2000 | 28.4 | 42.2| 70.6 | Table 1: Trends in tenure: 1918 to 2008, England (continued)

| Year | Owner occupiers | Social renters | Private renters | Total | |------|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|-------| | | Own outright | Buying with a mortgage | All | Unfurnished | Furnished | All | | | 2001 | 28.8 | 41.5 | 70.4 | 19.5 | 7.4 | 2.7 | 10.1 | 100 | | 2002 | 29.1 | 41.3 | 70.5 | 19.2 | 7.6 | 2.7 | 10.3 | 100 | | 2003 | 29.7 | 41.2 | 70.9 | 18.3 | 8.0 | 2.8 | 10.8 | 100 | | 2004 | 30.3 | 40.4 | 70.7 | 18.3 | 8.4 | 2.6 | 11.0 | 100 | | 2005 | 30.3 | 40.3 | 70.7 | 17.7 | 8.8 | 2.9 | 11.7 | 100 | | 2006 | 30.5 | 39.7 | 70.1 | 17.7 | 9.1 | 3.1 | 12.2 | 100 | | 2007 | 30.7 | 38.9 | 69.6 | 17.7 | 9.4 | 3.3 | 12.7 | 100 | | 2008 | 31.1 | 37.3 | 68.3 | 17.7 | 10.4 | 3.6 | 13.9 | 100 |

Sources: 1918: Estimates by Alan Holmans of Cambridge University Department of Land Economy. 1939 to 1971: “Housing Policy in Britain”, Alan Holmans, Table V1. 1981 to 1991: DOE Labour Force Survey Housing Traileer. 1992 to 2008: ONS Labour Force Survey.

1 Derived from figures for England & Wales. It has been assumed that the percentage in each tenure in England was the same as for England & Wales as a whole.

2 Based on share of dwellings rather than households

3 Figures from 1997 onwards are based on re-weighted LFS data issued in late August 2008. These will therefore differ from the corresponding figures published in previous versions of the table.

Chart 2 shows the trend in tenure over the last ten years for those households with a household reference person (HRP) aged less than thirty. There is a clear upward trend in the proportion of such households renting privately, rising from 31 per cent in 1999 to 45 per cent in 2008. Conversely the proportion buying with a mortgage fell from 43 per cent in 1999 to 32 per cent in 2008. These changes are likely to be a reflection of the high house prices over this period and the associated affordability problems which younger households have faced.

Chart 2: Trends in tenure of households with HRP aged less than 30, England, 1999 to 2008

Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey 2. Household type

In 2008, couples with no dependent children were the most common type of household (35 per cent) – see table 2. Eighty-one per cent of these couples owned their own home, including 45 per cent who owned outright and 36 per cent who were buying with a mortgage. Households with dependent children accounted for 29 per cent of all households: 22 per cent were couples with dependent children and seven per cent were lone parents with dependent children. Seventy-six per cent of couples with dependent children were owner occupiers, 10 per cent owning outright and 67 per cent buying with a mortgage. By contrast only 35 per cent of lone parents with children were owner occupiers while 44 per cent of them were social renters.

A further 29 per cent of households were one-person households, with around half a million more female one-person households than male, 3.3 million compared to 2.8 million. One-person households were the most common household type in the social rented sector (43 per cent).

Table 2: Household type by tenure, England, 2008

| Tenure | Household type | All one-person households | Total thousands | column percentages¹ | row percentages | |-------------------------|----------------|---------------------------|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------| | | Couple, no dependent children | Couple with dependent children | Lone parent with dependent children | Other multi-person household | One person households | All one-person households | | | Owned outright | 3,414 | 439 | 74 | 408 | 787 | 1,526 | 2,313 | 6,648 | | Buying with a mortgage | 2,726 | 3,076 | 443 | 411 | 748 | 566 | 1,314 | 7,970 | | All owner occupiers | 6,139 | 3,516 | 517 | 818 | 1,535 | 2,092 | 3,627 | 14,617 | | All social renters | 643 | 567 | 650 | 313 | 750 | 871 | 1,621 | 3,794 | | All private renters | 754 | 521 | 310 | 496 | 553 | 346 | 899 | 2,980 | | Tenure unknown | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16 | | All tenures | 7,542 | 4,605 | 1,477 | 1,629 | 2,840 | 3,314 | 6,154 | 21,407 |

¹ Cases with unknown tenure are excluded from the calculation of percentages

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey 3. Household size

The average household size in 2008 remained unchanged from 2007 at 2.4 persons per household – see table 3. By tenure, the largest households were again those buying with a mortgage (average 2.8 persons) whilst the smallest were outright owners (average 1.9 persons).

Forty-three per cent of social renters were one-person households, of whom most were elderly. Amongst owner occupiers and private renters, two-person households were the most common. Nearly one-third of owner occupiers were three or four-person households compared to about a quarter of social renters. These differences tend to reflect the large proportion of older people in the social sector and the greater concentration of middle-aged people with young families who are owner occupiers repaying a mortgage. These differences are also illustrated in chart 4.

Only two per cent of all households in England in 2008 had more than five members.

### Table 3: Household size by tenure, England, 2008

| Tenure | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven or more | Total (thousands) | Mean number of persons | |-------------------------|------|------|-------|------|------|------|---------------|---------------------|------------------------| | Owned outright | 2,313| 3,187| 642 | 326 | 114 | 44 | 21 | 6,648 | | | Buying with a mortgage | 1,314| 2,427| 1,684 | 1,810| 560 | 132 | 42 | 7,970 | | | All owner occupiers | 3,627| 5,615| 2,326 | 2,136| 674 | 177 | 63 | 14,617 | | | All social renters | 1,621| 964 | 554 | 377 | 163 | 74 | 41 | 3,794 | | | All private renters | 899 | 973 | 545 | 338 | 148 | 48 | 28 | 2,980 | | | Tenure unknown | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | | | All tenures¹ | 6,154| 7,554| 3,428 | 2,855| 986 | 298 | 133 | 21,407 | |

| Tenure | percentages | number | |-------------------------|-------------|--------| | Owned outright | 35 | 100 | 1.9 | | Buying with a mortgage | 16 | 100 | 2.8 | | All owner occupiers | 25 | 100 | 2.4 | | All social renters | 43 | 100 | 2.2 | | All private renters | 30 | 100 | 2.4 | | All tenures¹ | 29 | 100 | 2.4 |

¹ Including households with unknown tenure.

### Chart 4: Household size by tenure, England, 2008

Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey 4. Ethnicity

Table 4 summarises ethnicity by housing tenure for 2008 showing that there were marked differences in tenure between ethnic groups. The table shows the ethnic group of the household reference person and this is what is referred to as the ethnicity of the household. Overall, 70 per cent of white households were owner occupiers compared to 50 per cent of ethnic minority households. However, Indian households were more likely to be owner occupiers (74 per cent) than any other ethnic group. Black African households were the least likely to be owners (28 per cent).

Only seven per cent of Indian households were social renters but Bangladeshi households had the highest proportion in social renting, 47 per cent. In the private rented sector there were 13 per cent of white households but 24 per cent of ethnic minority households. Thirty five per cent of Chinese households were private renters.

Chart 5 illustrates the proportion of white and ethnic minority groups within each tenure. The greatest difference can be seen amongst those who owned outright, but there is a much smaller difference between those buying with a mortgage. Outright owners have a higher age profile, typically containing a high proportion of retired people who have paid off their mortgage.

The ethnic minority population has a younger age profile than the white population; hence the percentage of ethnic minority households is higher among younger age groups (see chart 6). In 2008, only two per cent of households with a HRP aged 75 or over were ethnic minority households, compared to 16 per cent of those with a HRP aged 25 to 34.

| Ethnic group of household reference person¹ | Owner occupiers | Tenure | Total | |---------------------------------------------|-----------------|--------|-------| | | owned outright | buying with a mortgage | all owner occupiers | all social renters | all private renters | thousands | | White – British | 6,033 | 6,816 | 12,849 | 3,098 | 1,989 | 17,936 | | White – Other | 249 | 306 | 555 | 154 | 416 | 1,126 | | All White | 6,282 | 7,122 | 13,404 | 3,253 | 2,405 | 19,062 | | Black – Caribbean | 38 | 93 | 131 | 109 | 29 | 269 | | Black – African | 10 | 60 | 69 | 108 | 70 | 246 | | Indian | 110 | 175 | 285 | 26 | 76 | 387 | | Pakistani | 63 | 88 | 151 | 35 | 35 | 221 | | Bangladeshi² | 8 | 27 | 35 | 43 | 14 | 92 | | Chinese² | 15 | 37 | 52 | 13 | 35 | 100 | | Mixed | 13 | 35 | 47 | 39 | 34 | 121 | | Other | 42 | 132 | 174 | 131 | 161 | 466 | | All ethnic minority | 298 | 647 | 945 | 504 | 454 | 1,902 | | All | 6,580 | 7,769 | 14,348 | 3,756 | 2,860 | 20,964 | Table 4: Tenure by ethnic group of household reference person, England, 2008 (continued)

| Ethnic group of household reference person¹ | Tenure | | | | | Total | |--------------------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------| | | Owner occupiers | | | | | | | | owned outright | buying with a mortgage | all owner occupiers | all social renters | all private renters | percentages | | White – British | 34 | 38 | 72 | 17 | 11 | 100 | | White – Other | 22 | 27 | 49 | 14 | 37 | 100 | | All White | 33 | 37 | 70 | 17 | 13 | 100 | | Black – Caribbean | 14 | 35 | 49 | 41 | 11 | 100 | | Black – African | 4 | 24 | 28 | 44 | 28 | 100 | | Indian | 28 | 45 | 74 | 7 | 20 | 100 | | Pakistani | 29 | 40 | 68 | 16 | 16 | 100 | | Bangladeshi² | 9 | 29 | 38 | 47 | 15 | 100 | | Chinese² | 15 | 37 | 52 | 13 | 35 | 100 | | Mixed | 11 | 29 | 39 | 33 | 28 | 100 | | Other | 9 | 28 | 37 | 28 | 35 | 100 | | All ethnic minority | 16 | 34 | 50 | 26 | 24 | 100 | | All | 31 | 37 | 68 | 18 | 14 | 100 |

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey 1 Excludes cases for which ethnic group unknown 2 These estimates have a large sampling error because of their small sizes and (for Bangladeshi) the clustering of the Bangladeshi population.

Chart 5: Proportion of each ethnic group within each tenure, England, 2008

Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey 5. Economic status

In 2008, 93 per cent of household reference persons who were buying with a mortgage were working – see table 5. For private renters the percentage was 70 per cent, and for social renters the percentage was 34 per cent. For outright owners, only 37 per cent of household reference persons were working – and 57 per cent were retired.

Table 5: Economic status of household reference person by tenure, England, 2008

| Tenure | Working: | Total working | Unemployed | Retired | Other inactive | Total | |-------------------------|----------|---------------|------------|---------|---------------|-------| | | Full-time| Part-time | | | | | | Owned outright | 1,708 | 705 | 2,414 | 55 | 3,733 | 6,583 | | Buying with a mortgage | 6,666 | 574 | 7,239 | 72 | 234 | 7,772 | | All owner occupiers | 8,374 | 1,279 | 9,653 | 127 | 3,967 | 14,355| | All social renters | 916 | 353 | 1,269 | 234 | 1,149 | 3,759 | | All private renters | 1,726 | 286 | 2,012 | 115 | 265 | 2,863 | | All tenures | 11,016 | 1,918 | 12,933 | 477 | 5,381 | 20,977|

| Tenure | | | | | | | |-------------------------|----------|---------------|------------|---------|---------------|-------| | Owned outright | 26 | 11 | 37 | 1 | 57 | 6 | | Buying with a mortgage | 86 | 7 | 93 | 1 | 3 | 3 | | All owner occupiers | 58 | 9 | 67 | 1 | 28 | 4 | | All social renters | 24 | 9 | 34 | 6 | 31 | 29 | | All private renters | 60 | 10 | 70 | 4 | 9 | 16 | | All tenures | 53 | 9 | 62 | 2 | 26 | 10 |

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey Overall just over a quarter of household reference persons (HRPs) were retired with the lowest percentage for households buying with a mortgage. Of the 2.2 million “other inactive” HRPs, around half (1.1 million) were renting from the social sector. In the social rented sector the percentage of HRPs that were economically inactive but not retired was higher than in other tenures. Overall around two-thirds of household reference persons in the social sector were economically inactive. Differences in economic status by tenure are further illustrated in chart 7.

Chart 7: Economic status of household reference person by tenure, England, 2008

Whilst table 5 and chart 7 refer to the economic status of all household reference persons in England, Chart 8 focuses solely on the economic status of working age household reference persons, that is males under 65 and females under 60. Ninety-six per cent of working age householders buying with a mortgage were working compared to only 49 per cent of social renters. There was a much higher proportion of ‘other inactive’ in the social rented sector, 41 per cent of working age households compared to 3 per cent of those buying with a mortgage, 11 per cent of outright owners and 18 per cent of private renters. 6. Number of persons in work

The economic status of the household reference person cannot give a complete picture of the economic position of the household as other members of the household may also be in employment.

In 2008, 35 per cent of all households had nobody in work – see table 6. For the social rented sector this figure was 61 per cent and for outright owners it was 57 per cent – this latter figure reflecting the fact that the majority of outright owners were retired. Households buying with a mortgage had the highest proportion of two or more people in work (62 per cent), compared to 33 per cent of private renters, and 14 per cent of social renters. Table 6: Number of households by number of working persons and by tenure, England, 2008

| Tenure | Number of persons working | Total | | |-------------------------|---------------------------|-------|---| | | None | One | Two | Three or more | | | Owned outright | 3,670 | 1,521 | 973 | 275 | 6,440 | | Buying with a mortgage | 365 | 2,439 | 3,779 | 893 | 7,476 | | All owner occupiers | 4,035 | 3,960 | 4,752 | 1,169 | 13,917 | | All social renters | 2,233 | 916 | 409 | 101 | 3,659 | | All private renters | 727 | 1,045 | 748 | 140 | 2,660 | | All tenures | 6,996 | 5,921 | 5,909 | 1,410 | 20,236 |

| Tenure | Percentages | | |-------------------------|-------------|---| | Owned outright | 57 | 24 | 15 | 4 | 100 | | Buying with a mortgage | 5 | 33 | 51 | 12 | 100 | | All owner occupiers | 29 | 28 | 34 | 8 | 100 | | All social renters | 61 | 25 | 11 | 3 | 100 | | All private renters | 27 | 39 | 28 | 5 | 100 | | All tenures | 35 | 29 | 29 | 7 | 100 |

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey

7. Gross income

There is a clear relationship between income and tenure – see table 7 and chart 9. Over half (53 per cent) of social renters had a joint income of less than £10,000 per annum, compared to 11 per cent of owners and 25 per cent of private renters. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of those buying with a mortgage had a joint income of £30,000 or more but only six per cent of social renters had incomes of this level. Seventy-three per cent of outright owners had joint incomes of less than £30,000 per annum, reflecting the high proportion of retired people within this category.

Chart 9: Gross annual income of HRP (and partner) by tenure, England, 2007/08

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing Table 7: Households: by gross annual income of HRP (and partner) by tenure, England, 2007/08

| Tenure | Under £5K | £5K but under £10K | £10K but under £15K | £15K but under £20K | £20K but under £30K | £30K but under £40K | £40K but under £50K | £50K or over | Total thousands | |-------------------------|-----------|--------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------|-----------------| | Owned outright | 143 | 882 | 917 | 733 | 978 | 529 | 322 | 520 | 5,024 | | Buying with a mortgage | 71 | 201 | 399 | 480 | 1,302 | 1,307 | 964 | 2,032 | 6,756 | | All owner occupiers | 214 | 1,083 | 1,316 | 1,213 | 2,279 | 1,836 | 1,287 | 2,552 | 11,779 | | All social renters | 440 | 1,414 | 690 | 332 | 367 | 136 | 57 | 31 | 3,466 | | All private renters | 194 | 365 | 347 | 238 | 432 | 303 | 127 | 211 | 2,217 | | All tenures | 848 | 2,862 | 2,353 | 1,783 | 3,078 | 2,275 | 1,471 | 2,794 | 17,463 |

| Tenure | Owned outright | Buying with a mortgage | All owner occupiers | All social renters | All private renters | All tenures | |-------------------------|----------------|------------------------|---------------------|--------------------|---------------------|-------------| | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 5 | | | 18 | 6 | 11 | 41 | 16 | 16 | | | 15 | 7 | 10 | 20 | 11 | 13 | | | 19 | 19 | 19 | 11 | 19 | 18 | | | 11 | 14 | 16 | 4 | 14 | 13 | | | 6 | 30 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 8 | | | 10 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

Note: figures are based only on those households for whom income is known

8. Mortgages

Table 8 shows the type of mortgage held by households in 2007-08 by the year in which they were taken out. About three-quarters of mortgages taken out since 2001 were repayment mortgages; only six per cent were endowment mortgages. The increase in the proportion of new mortgages that were both interest only and repayment may reflect a tendency to convert part of the outstanding loan to a repayment loan in cases where the endowment policy was no longer expected to cover the outstanding loan on maturity. Table 8: Type of mortgage by when started, England, 2007/08

| Year mortgage taken out | Endowment mortgage | Pension or PEPISA mortgage | Interest only, more than one linked investment | Interest only, no linked investment | Repayment mortgage (interest plus principal) | Interest only component plus a repayment component | Other | Total² | |-------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-------|--------| | 1984 or earlier | 104 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 92 | 11 | 3 | 224 | | 1985-1989 | 192 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 156 | 34 | 3 | 401 | | 1990-1994 | 145 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 235 | 23 | 7 | 431 | | 1995-1999 | 144 | 8 | 20 | 31 | 596 | 66 | 11 | 876 | | 2000 | 29 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 200 | 16 | 5 | 261 | | 2001 | 29 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 185 | 21 | 2 | 258 | | 2002 | 34 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 345 | 28 | 6 | 443 | | 2003 | 31 | 1 | 9 | 44 | 348 | 40 | 5 | 478 | | 2004 | 47 | 5 | 23 | 40 | 487 | 31 | 9 | 641 | | 2005 | 58 | 5 | 34 | 79 | 733 | 47 | 11 | 968 | | 2006 | 61 | 4 | 71 | 154 | 994 | 73 | 21 | 1,378 | | 2007 or 2008 | 66 | 9 | 46 | 158 | 916 | 62 | 19 | 1,277 | | Total² | 941 | 43 | 236 | 573 | 5,287 | 453 | 102 | 7,636 |

| Year mortgage taken out | Endowment mortgage | Pension or PEPISA mortgage | Interest only, more than one linked investment | Interest only, no linked investment | Repayment mortgage (interest plus principal) | Interest only component plus a repayment component | Other | Total² | |-------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-------|--------| | 1984 or earlier | 46 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 41 | 5 | 1 | 100 | | 1985-1989 | 48 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 8 | 1 | 100 | | 1990-1994 | 34 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 55 | 5 | 2 | 100 | | 1995-1999 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 68 | 8 | 1 | 100 | | 2000 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 77 | 6 | 2 | 100 | | 2001 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 72 | 8 | 1 | 100 | | 2002 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 78 | 6 | 1 | 100 | | 2003 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 73 | 8 | 1 | 100 | | 2004 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 76 | 5 | 1 | 100 | | 2005 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 76 | 5 | 1 | 100 | | 2006 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 72 | 5 | 2 | 100 | | 2007 or 2008 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 72 | 5 | 2 | 100 | | Total | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 69 | 6 | 1 | 100 |

| Percentage since 2001 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 74 | 5 | 1 | 100 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

¹ Includes any mortgages started in the first quarter of 2008 ² Excludes unknowns

Around 573,000 households in 2007-08 held interest-only mortgages with no linked investment. Such mortgages have become more common in recent years as lenders no longer insisted that an investment vehicle be set up as a pre-condition to mortgage approval.

Chart 10 shows the proportion of certain types of households buying with a mortgage who were experiencing difficulties or in arrears during the two year period covering 2006-07 and 2007-08. A two-year period is used due to the small numbers of such households in the survey samples.

For England as a whole, 13 per cent of households buying with a mortgage reported either some difficulty in paying the mortgage or that they were in arrears. Over 30 per cent of unemployed households, those with at least one sick or disabled member, and those who had previously been repossessed reported some difficulties or being in arrears. Almost a quarter of lone parents (24 per cent) and ethnic minority households (23 per cent) were experiencing difficulties or arrears. 9. Social Rents

In 2007-08 the mean rent in the social sector was £72 per week. Mean rents for Council tenants were lower than those for Housing Association tenants, £68 per week compared to £77 per week, see table 9.

For those tenants receiving Housing Benefit the mean rent before Housing Benefit was £74 per week and on average they paid £11 per week after Housing Benefit. For tenancies of Housing Associations the corresponding amounts were £78 before Housing Benefit and £12 after Housing Benefit.

| Year | Council | Housing Association | All social | |--------|---------|---------------------|------------| | 1993/94| 34 | 41 | 35 | | 2002/03| 53 | 65 | 57 | | 2003/04| 54 | 68 | 59 | | 2004/05| 59 | 68 | 62 | | 2005/06| 61 | 71 | 66 | | 2006/07| 65 | 72 | 68 | | 2007/08| 68 | 77 | 72 |

For social sector tenancies receiving Housing Benefit

| Year | Rent before deduction of Housing Benefit | Rent after deduction of Housing Benefit | |--------|-----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------| | 2007/08| 71 | 10 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing 10. Private Rents

Table 10, which deals exclusively with private renters, is presented in terms of tenancies rather than households. These terms are defined in the Definitions section at the end of this report, as are the tenancy types.

Since the 1988 Housing Act introduced the concepts of Assured and Assured Shorthold tenancies (see Definitions) and ended the creation of new Regulated tenancies, Assured Shorthold has become the most common form of tenancy. In 2007-08, 67 per cent of all private tenancies were Assured Shorthold and Regulated tenancies accounted for only four per cent of all tenancies. Eleven per cent of tenancies were not accessible to the public, for example accommodation tied to employment or rented only to family or friends.

Chart 11: Trend in private tenancy types, England, 1997/98 to 2007/08

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing Table 10: Trend in private rental tenancies: by tenancy type, England

| Year | Assured | Assured shorthold | All assured | All regulated | Not accessible to public | Resident landlord | Other | Total¹ | thousands | |---------|---------|-------------------|-------------|---------------|--------------------------|------------------|-------|--------|-----------| | 1997/98 | 321 | 1,165 | 1,486 | 205 | 349 | 178 | 38 | 2,255 | | 1998/99 | 254 | 1,223 | 1,477 | 189 | 386 | 169 | 25 | 2,246 | | 1999/00 | 275 | 1,241 | 1,517 | 154 | 444 | 151 | 40 | 2,305 | | 2000/01 | 213 | 1,221 | 1,434 | 122 | 382 | 192 | 56 | 2,186 | | 2001/02 | 272 | 1,233 | 1,505 | 117 | 308 | 162 | 38 | 2,129 | | 2002/03 | 384 | 1,129 | 1,514 | 127 | 355 | 176 | 51 | 2,221 | | 2003/04 | 221 | 1,481 | 1,702 | 140 | 349 | 164 | 13 | 2,368 | | 2004/05 | 254 | 1,584 | 1,838 | 126 | 359 | 186 | 17 | 2,526 | | 2005/06 | 306 | 1,730 | 2,036 | 115 | 361 | 135 | 33 | 2,681 | | 2006/07 | 310 | 1,781 | 2,091 | 139 | 389 | 144 | 33 | 2,796 | | 2007/08 | 340 | 1,864 | 2,204 | 120 | 304 | 127 | 14 | 2,770 |

| Year | percentages | |---------|-------------| | 1997/98 | 14 52 66 9 15 8 2 100 | | 1998/99 | 11 54 66 8 17 8 1 100 | | 1999/00 | 12 54 66 7 19 7 2 100 | | 2000/01 | 10 56 66 6 17 9 3 100 | | 2001/02 | 13 58 71 5 14 8 2 100 | | 2002/03 | 17 51 68 6 16 8 2 100 | | 2003/04 | 9 63 72 6 15 7 1 100 | | 2004/05 | 10 63 73 5 14 7 1 100 | | 2005/06 | 11 65 76 4 13 5 1 100 | | 2006/07 | 11 64 75 5 14 5 1 100 | | 2007/08 | 12 67 80 4 11 5 1 100 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing ¹ Figures include lodgers within owner occupier and social renting households.

The average ‘free market’ rent (ie rent for property accessible to the public without special conditions) in 2007-08 was £134 per week (this is the average for ‘all assured’ tenancies). The mean for Assured Shorthold tenancies was £136 a week and for other assured tenancies £126 a week. For the small number of remaining Regulated tenancies the average rent was £85 per week (table 11).

For those tenancies that received Housing Benefit the mean weekly rent before Housing Benefit in 2007-08 was £113. The mean amount that these tenants paid after Housing Benefit was £31 per week. Table 11: Trend in private rents: by tenancy type, England

| Year | Assured | Assured shorthold | All assured | All regulated | Not accessible to public | Resident landlord | Other | Total1 | |----------|---------|-------------------|-------------|---------------|--------------------------|-------------------|-------|--------| | 1997/98 | 78 | 89 | 87 | 47 | 63 | 50 | * | 79 | | 1999/00 | 87 | 94 | 93 | 52 | 79 | 61 | * | 86 | | 2000/01 | 88 | 103 | 101 | 54 | 83 | 54 | * | 92 | | 2001/02 | 98 | 114 | 111 | 57 | 77 | 60 | * | 102 | | 2002/03 | 117 | 122 | 121 | 61 | 78 | 72 | * | 110 | | 2003/04 | 96 | 121 | 118 | 57 | 83 | 70 | * | 110 | | 2004/05 | 108 | 122 | 121 | 71 | 84 | 79 | * | 113 | | 2005/06 | 109 | 129 | 126 | 68 | 80 | 81 | * | 119 | | 2006/07 | 115 | 133 | 130 | 72 | 117 | 63 | * | 123 | | 2007/08 | 126 | 136 | 134 | 85 | 107 | 75 | * | 129 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

1 Figures include lodgers within owner occupier and social renting households. 2 Rent free tenancies are excluded from the calculations of mean rents

11. Overcrowding

Levels of overcrowding are measured using the ‘bedroom standard’ (see definition in Notes at the end of this bulletin). Essentially this is the difference between the number of bedrooms needed to avoid undesirable sharing (given the number of household members and their relationships to each other) and the number of bedrooms actually available to the household. Fewer than three per cent of households are overcrowded, so the sample of overcrowded households interviewed in a single year’s survey is too small to produce reliable annual estimates. Data from the three most recent survey years (2005-06 to 2007-08) have therefore been combined for this report in order to produce more robust estimates.

Table 12 shows estimates of the numbers of households by tenure that were: overcrowded; equal to standard (they have exactly the number of bedrooms needed under the bedroom standard); one above standard (they have one spare bedroom); and under-occupied (with two or more spare bedrooms).

The average number of overcrowded households in England over the three years to 2007-08 was approximately 565,000 – about 2.7 per cent of all households. By tenure, overcrowding continued to be highest in the social rented sector, 5.9 per cent across the whole of England. Overcrowding was lower in the private rented sector – 4.9 per cent, but lowest of all in the owner occupied sector – with only 1.4 per cent of owner occupied households experiencing overcrowding. Table 12: Overcrowding and under-occupation by tenure, England, 2005/06 to 2007/08

| Tenure | Overcrowded | Equal to standard | 1 above standard | Under-occupied | Total | |-------------------------|-------------|-------------------|------------------|----------------|--------| | | thousands | | | | | | Owned outright | 58 | 555 | 2,106 | 3,720 | 6,439 | | Buying with mortgage¹ | 147 | 1,553 | 3,278 | 3,056 | 8,035 | | All owners occupiers | 206 | 2,108 | 5,384 | 6,776 | 14,474 | | Social renters | 234 | 2,093 | 1,159 | 456 | 3,942 | | Private renters | 126 | 1,108 | 879 | 437 | 2,550 | | All tenures | 565 | 5,310 | 7,422 | 7,669 | 20,966 |

| Tenure | percentages | | | | | |-------------------------|-------------|-------------------|------------------|----------------|--------| | Owned outright | 0.9 | 8.6 | 32.7 | 57.8 | 100 | | Buying with mortgage¹ | 1.8 | 19.3 | 40.8 | 38.0 | 100 | | All owners occupiers | 1.4 | 14.6 | 37.2 | 46.8 | 100 | | Social renters | 5.9 | 53.1 | 29.4 | 11.6 | 100 | | Private renters | 4.9 | 43.5 | 34.5 | 17.1 | 100 | | All tenures | 2.7 | 25.3 | 35.4 | 36.6 | 100 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing ¹ includes shared owners

Under-occupation was highest in the owner occupied sector, 46.8 per cent, and particularly amongst those who owned outright, 57.8 per cent. This reflects the high proportion of retired households (with fewer members) that are outright owners. By comparison the rates of under-occupation in the rented sectors were much lower: 11.6 per cent for social renters and 17.1 per cent for private renters.

Chart 12 shows the trend in overcrowding rates by tenure (three year moving average) from 1995-96 to 2007-08. This shows that the overall overcrowding rate across all tenures has changed little over time. For owner occupiers the rate of overcrowding has remained stable at 1.4 per cent since 2001-02. Social renters have seen small increases in the overcrowding rate from 2003-04 to 2006-07 but the rate remained static in 2007-08. A similar picture was also seen in the private rented sector. Table 13 shows estimates of the number of overcrowded households and the rates of overcrowding by region and by tenure. London had the highest overcrowding rate of all the regions, both overall (6.8 per cent) and by tenure. There were around 200,000 overcrowded households in London, three-quarters of whom were renters. The social rented sector in London saw the highest rate of overcrowding, 12.7 per cent, and 9.8 per cent of private renters and 3.0 per cent of owner occupiers were overcrowded (as defined by the bedroom standard).

| Government Office Region | Number of overcrowded households | Rate of overcrowding | |--------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------| | | owner occupiers | social renters | private renters | all tenures | owner occupiers | social renters | private renters | all tenures | | North East | 5 | 9 | 2 | 16 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 1.7 | 1.4 | | North West | 33 | 20 | 13 | 66 | 1.6 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 2.3 | | Yorkshire & the Humber | 22 | 14 | 8 | 44 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 2.1 | | North | 60 | 44 | 23 | 126 | 1.4 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 2.1 | | East Midlands | 8 | 11 | 7 | 26 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 1.4 | | West Midlands | 28 | 22 | 9 | 58 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 3.9 | 2.7 | | Midlands | 36 | 33 | 15 | 84 | 1.2 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 2.1 | | East | 17 | 19 | 10 | 47 | 1.1 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 2.0 | | London | 51 | 102 | 55 | 207 | 3.0 | 12.7 | 9.8 | 6.8 | | South-East | 28 | 25 | 14 | 67 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 3.2 | 2.0 | | South West | 14 | 11 | 9 | 34 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 1.6 | | South | 110 | 157 | 88 | 355 | 1.5 | 8.0 | 5.6 | 3.3 | | England | 206 | 234 | 126 | 565 | 1.4 | 5.9 | 4.9 | 2.7 |

Source: Communities & Local Government, Survey of English Housing 12. Length of residence

In 2007-08, over two million households (11 per cent) had been resident at their current address for less than one year. Forty per cent of all private renters had moved during the previous year, compared to only nine per cent of social renters and seven per cent of owner-occupiers. In other words, private renters are much more mobile than social renters or owner-occupiers. The least mobile group are outright owners, only three per cent of whom moved in the previous year.

Over 45 per cent of all households had lived in the same property for 10 years or more, with over a quarter having lived in the same property for 20 years or more. In the case of outright owners over half had lived in the same property for 20 years or more.

The median length of residence for outright owners was 23.6 years, compared to just 7.1 years for owner occupiers who were buying with a mortgage. Social tenants had a median length of residence of 7.8 years whereas private tenants had been in residence for a median of just 1.7 years. The overall median length of residence across all tenures was 8.9 years.

| Tenure | Length of residence of household reference person | Median length of residence | |-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------| | | < 1 year to < 3 years to < 5 years to < 10 years to < 20 years to < 40 years | thousands | | Owned outright | 217 356 281 742 1,218 2,607 1,151 6,572 | 23.6 | | Buying with a mortgage | 769 1,311 1,036 1,929 1,817 968 56 7,886 | 7.1 | | All owner occupied | 985 1,667 1,317 2,671 3,035 3,575 1,207 14,458 | 11.9 | | All social rented | 374 639 506 827 832 585 197 3,961 | 7.8 | | All private rented | 1,014 780 263 239 126 100 45 2,567 | 1.7 | | All tenures | 2,374 3,087 2,086 3,738 3,994 4,260 1,449 20,987 | 8.9 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

13. Recent movers

The most common types of move were from one owned property to another (603,000) or from one privately rented property to another (621,000) – see table 15. There was also a fair degree of movement within the social rented sector. Overall, movement within each of the sectors was more common than movement between them. In 2007-08, 47 per cent of all newly-formed households moved into the private rented sector, 34 per cent moved directly into owner occupation and 20 per cent moved into the social rented sector.

| Current tenure | New household reference persons | Previous tenure – continuing households | Owner Occupied | All owner occupiers | All social renters | All private renters | Total | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------|---------------------|--------------------|--------------------|-------| | | | | Owned outright | Buying with a mortgage | All owner occupiers | All social renters | All private renters | Total | | Owned outright | 15 | 131 | 44 | 175 | 4 | 22 | 217 | | Buying with a mortgage | 116 | 43 | 385 | 428 | 18 | 206 | 767 | | All owner occupied | 131 | 174 | 429 | 603 | 22 | 228 | 984 | | All social rented | 76 | 9 | 13 | 23 | 196 | 77 | 371 | | All private rented | 183 | 24 | 134 | 159 | 37 | 621 | 1,000 | | All tenures | 390 | 208 | 576 | 784 | 254 | 927 | 2,355 |

| Current tenure | New household reference persons | Previous tenure – continuing households | Owner Occupied | All owner occupiers | All social renters | All private renters | Total | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------|---------------------|--------------------|--------------------|-------| | | | | Owned outright | Buying with a mortgage | All owner occupiers | All social renters | All private renters | Total | | Owned outright | 7 | 60 | 20 | 81 | 2 | 10 | 100 | | Buying with a mortgage | 15 | 6 | 50 | 56 | 2 | 27 | 100 | | All owner occupied | 13 | 18 | 44 | 61 | 2 | 23 | 100 | | All social rented | 20 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 53 | 21 | 100 | | All private rented | 18 | 2 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 62 | 100 | | All tenures | 17 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 11 | 39 | 100 |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

14. Buying aspirations

In 2007-08 only 24 per cent of social renters said that they expected to become homeowners eventually – compared to 56 per cent of private renters. This compares to 31 per cent of social renters and 60 per cent of private renters in 2002-03 who expected to buy eventually – see chart 13 (this question was not asked between 2002-03 and 2006-07). Twenty-eight per cent of private renters and 12 per cent of social renters expecting to buy eventually were expecting to do so within the next two years. These proportions were lower than those found in 2006-07 (34 and 14 per cent respectively) perhaps indicating that renters were expecting to rent for longer before being in a position to buy. Sixty-two per cent of social renters expected to buy in five years or more time.

Forty-four per cent of social renters who expected to become homeowners said they expected to buy the home they were currently renting. Only 14 per cent of the private renters expected to buy their current accommodation. Renters who said they did not expect to ever buy their own home were asked what the main reason was for this. In general there was little difference between the two types of renters. The most common reason given, by 62 per cent of both social and private renters, was that they felt they would be unlikely ever to be able to afford it. Nine per cent of both tenures said the main reason for not expecting to buy was that they did not want to be in debt. Only five per cent of social renters and four per cent of private renters gave lack of a secure enough job as the main reason for not expecting to buy.

Table 17: Main reason renters do not expect to become homeowners, England, 2007/08

| Reason | Social renters | Private renters | Social renters | Private renters | |---------------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------|----------------|-----------------| | It is unlikely I will ever be able to afford it | 715 | 216 | 62 | 62 | | I do not have a secure enough job | 57 | 15 | 5 | 4 | | I would not want to be in debt | 99 | 30 | 9 | 9 | | Repairs and maintenance would be too costly | 30 | 6 | 3 | 2 | | I wouldn’t want that sort of commitment | 75 | 22 | 7 | 6 | | I prefer the flexibility of renting | 12 | 15 | 1 | 4 | | I like it where I am | 122 | 28 | 11 | 8 | | Other | 43 | 17 | 4 | 5 | | **Total** | **1,153** | **350** | **100** | **100** |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing

15. Attitudes to home and local area

The majority of households in England in 2007-08, 62 per cent, were very satisfied with their accommodation and a further 30 per cent were fairly satisfied. Only five per cent expressed any dissatisfaction with their current accommodation. Owner occupiers were more likely to be very satisfied, 68 per cent, compared to 49 per cent of social renters and 47 per cent of private renters. Dissatisfaction with their accommodation was higher among social renters than private renters, 13 per cent compared to nine per cent.

Table 18: Satisfaction with current accommodation by tenure, England, 2007/08

| Tenure | Owner Occupiers | Social renters | Private renters | All households | |-------------------------------|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|----------------| | | thousands | | | | | Very satisfied | 9,682 | 1,888 | 1,130 | 12,700 | | Fairly satisfied | 3,901 | 1,302 | 918 | 6,121 | | Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | 275 | 177 | 153 | 604 | | Slightly dissatisfied | 256 | 287 | 139 | 682 | | Very dissatisfied | 64 | 236 | 86 | 386 | | **Total** | **14,178** | **3,890** | **2,425** | **20,493** |

| | percentages | | | | | Very satisfied | 68 | 49 | 47 | 62 | | Fairly satisfied | 28 | 33 | 38 | 30 | | Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | | Slightly dissatisfied | 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 | | Very dissatisfied | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | | **Total** | **100** | **100** | **100** | **100** |

Source: Communities and Local Government, Survey of English Housing Respondents were also presented with a series of issues and asked whether they thought each was a ‘serious problem in this area’, ‘a problem in this area but not serious’, or whether it was ‘not a problem in this area’. There have been several changes over the time that the survey has operated in the range of issues included. Chart 14 shows the trend for six issues which have been included since 2002-03.

The proportions reporting each problem have remained fairly stable over recent years. Traffic was the issue which was most commonly reported as a problem (52 per cent) and racial harassment the least commonly reported (seven per cent) in 2007-08. Litter and rubbish continued to be a problem for 43 per cent of households. Notes

About the survey

The SEH is designed to yield a nationally representative sample of households in England, and in the period from mid-April 2007 to mid-April 2008 interviews were achieved in 15,610 households. The sample was selected in two stages: first a sample of postcode sectors was selected from the Postcode Address File (PAF), then a sample of addresses was selected within each of these sectors.

Main uses: The survey is a flexible means of meeting the housing information needs of policy makers, housing professionals and researchers, and the general public. In particular it provides information on: tenure; household composition and demographics; mortgages; rents; satisfaction with neighbourhood and accommodation; and overcrowding.

Data quality: Fieldwork is contracted out to the National Centre for Social Research which has stringent data quality checks. Interviews are conducted using laptops, enabling consistency checks to be applied at the point of collection. There are set procedures and specifications for the creation and checking of derived variables and the production of data tables.

Checks are also undertaken by the SEH team on the data, tables and underlying syntax supplied by the contractors. Outputs are also compared with those from previous years, in order to highlight any anomalies. Full technical details are provided as appendices to the annual report, Housing in England.

Definitions

1. Bedroom standard

‘Bedroom standard’ is used as an indicator of occupation density. A standard number of bedrooms is calculated for each household in accordance with its age/sex/marital status composition and the relationship of the members to one another. A separate bedroom is allowed for each married or cohabiting couple, any other person aged 21 or over, each pair of adolescents aged 10-20 of the same sex, and each pair of children under 10. Any unpaired person aged 10-20 is notionally paired, if possible, with a child under 10 of the same sex, or, if that is not possible, he or she is counted as requiring a separate bedroom, as is any unpaired child under 10. This notional standard number of bedrooms is then compared with the actual number of bedrooms (including bed-sitters) available for the sole use of the household, and differences are tabulated. Bedrooms converted to other uses are not counted as available unless they have been denoted as bedrooms by the informants; bedrooms not actually in use are counted unless uninhabitable.

2. Household

A household is defined as one person or a group of people who have the accommodation as their only or main residence and (for a group) either share at least one meal a day or share the living accommodation, that is, a living room or sitting room.

3. Household reference person (HRP)

From April 2001 the SEH in common with other Government surveys replaced the traditional concept of the “head of the household” by “household reference person”. The household reference person is defined as a “householder” (that is a person in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented). For households with joint householders, it is the person with the highest income; if two or more householders have exactly the same income, the older is selected. Thus the household reference person definition, unlike the old head of household definition, no longer gives automatic priority to male partners.

4. Household membership People are regarded as living at the address if they (or the informant) consider the address to be their only or main residence. There are, however, certain rules which take priority over this criterion.

(a) Children aged 16 or over who live away from home for the purposes of work or study and come home only for the holidays are not included at the parental address under any circumstances.

(b) Children of any age away from home in a temporary job and children under 16 at boarding school are always included in the parental household.

(c) People who have been away from the address continuously for six months or longer are excluded.

(d) People who have been living continuously at the address for six months or longer are included even if they have their main residence elsewhere.

(e) Addresses used only as second homes are never counted as main residences.

5. Dependent children Dependent children are persons aged under 16, or single persons aged 16 to 18 and in full-time education.

6. Economic activity

6.1 Working This category covers employees and self-employed persons who, in the previous week, did paid work (including part-time work), were away from a job/business (on annual leave or sick leave) or were doing unpaid work for their own or family business. Persons on a government-supported training scheme are classified as working full-time.

6.2 Unemployed The ILO definition of unemployed covers people without a job who were available to start work in the two weeks after interview and had either looked for work in the four weeks before the interview or were waiting to start a new job they had already obtained.

6.3 Economically active This includes persons who were working or unemployed (ILO defined, as above) in the week before interview.

6.4 Economically inactive All others who were not working; they include people who were permanently sick or disabled, retired, full-time students or looking after the family or home. 6.5 Full-time students Full-time students are classified according to their reports of what they were doing in the reference week (for example, if it was during the vacation and they had a full-time job, they would be classified as working full-time).

7. Ethnicity From 2001-02, the SEH has collected information on the ethnic group of adult household members according to the new harmonised definition used in the 2001 Census. The new definition increased the number of categories from 9 (in the 1991 Census definition) to 16.

For tables presenting trends the new categories have been combined to give groupings that are broadly comparable with the categories used in 2000/01 and earlier years. The sample sizes for many ethnic groups are quite small, so the results shown should be regarded as approximate.

8. Household type The main classification of household type uses the following categories:

- Married/cohabiting couple with no children or with non-dependent child(ren) only
- Married/cohabiting couple with dependent child(ren)
- Lone parent family (one parent with dependent child(ren))
- Other multi-person household (includes flat sharers, lone parents with non-dependent children only and households containing more than one couple or lone parent family) – previously referred to as ‘large adult household’
- One male
- One female

The married/cohabiting couple and lone parent household types (the first three categories above) may include one-person family units in addition to the couple/lone parent family.

9. Tenure 9.1 Owner occupiers Owner occupied accommodation, is accommodation which is either owned outright, being bought with a mortgage or being bought as part of a shared ownership scheme.

9.2 Social renters This category includes households renting from:

- the Council/Local Authority including Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) and Housing Action Trusts; • Housing Associations (mostly Registered Social Landlords – RSLs), Local Housing Companies, co-operatives and charitable trusts. Note that the term ‘RSLs’ was used in place of ‘housing associations’ from 1997-08; but the more all-encompassing description of ‘housing associations’ is now seen as more appropriate.

This report does not give separate estimates for council tenants and housing association tenants due to the ongoing problem that some housing association tenants who were previously council tenants continue to incorrectly report that they are council tenants. This is typically in areas where ownership has transferred from the council to a housing association. The overall social renting estimates are robust but separate estimates could be misleading. The main Housing in England 2007-08 report (to be published in 2009) will give separate figures for those topics where there is a significant difference between the characteristics of the two types of social tenant.

9.3 Private renters This sector covers all other tenants including all whose accommodation is tied to their job. It also includes people living rent-free (for example, people living in a flat belonging to a relative) and squatters.

10. Tenancies The main types are listed below

10.1 Assured and Assured Shorthold Tenancies Under the 1988 Housing Act, all tenancies starting after the 14th January 1989 are Assured (including Assured Shorthold) unless they fall into one of the excluded categories, for example business lettings or lettings by resident landlords. Before March 1997, tenants had to be given a notice in writing to say that a tenancy was an Assured Shorthold. From March 1997, the rules changed and all new tenancies were Assured Shortholds unless the agreement specifically stated that they were not. Assured Shorthold lettings are for a fixed period of six months or more. The landlord can regain possession of the property six months after the start of the tenancy provided that two months notice is given. In the case of an Assured letting the tenant has the right to remain in the property unless the landlord can prove grounds for repossession. The landlord does not have an automatic right to repossess the property when the tenancy comes to an end.

10.2 Regulated tenancies In general these are tenancies that began before January 1989, since before that date most private tenancies were regulated lettings, unless they fell into one of the excluded categories. A few lettings after that date will also be regulated tenancies. With a regulated letting either the landlord or the tenant can apply to the Rent Officer for a registration of a fair rent. The registered rent then becomes the maximum that the landlord can legally charge. The landlord cannot evict the tenant without a possession order from the courts and this can only be granted in certain circumstances.

10.3 Tenancies not accessible to the public Tenancies not accessible to the public are mostly lettings by employers to their employees, and rent-free lettings to friends or relatives of the landlord in private houses or flats. Accommodation in halls of residence and student accommodation on campus is excluded from the survey (on the grounds that they are classed as communal establishments) but other lettings in houses or flats off campus by universities and colleges to their students are included and come into this category. Being inaccessible to the public is not a legal category as such but most of the groups listed may be outside the Rent Act or Housing Act with regards to security of tenure. 10.4 Resident landlord lettings

Resident landlord lettings are tenancies where the landlord lives in the same building. This includes converted houses where they live in different parts of the same property (however long ago it was converted). In a purpose built block the landlord and tenant must live in the same flat for the letting to qualify as a resident landlord letting. Thus some tenants with a resident landlord have a self-contained flat within the landlord’s house. Others are lodgers renting just one or two rooms and sharing amenities such as the bathroom or kitchen with the landlord.

11. Non self-contained accommodation

Households are classified as living in non self-contained accommodation if they share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet with another household, or if they share a hall or staircase which is needed in order to get from one part of the accommodation to another.

Households which share a common entrance hall, but otherwise have all their accommodation behind their own front door are counted as living in self-contained accommodation.

Reporting on the 2007-08 survey

A full report on the main results of the 2007-08 survey will be published in 2009.

Further information and contact details

Further details, copies of reports, and a wide range of further tables from the Survey of English Housing can be found at:

www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingsurveys/

Information on the English House Condition Survey and the English Housing Survey can also be accessed via this link.

If you have any queries about this report or would like any further information please contact us at seh@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Information about housing in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:

http://wales.gov.uk/topics/statistics/theme/housing/survey/?lang=en http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/sp_home/research-2.htm